


The Block and all that Followed

by NoelEvangilineCarson



Category: Tuck Everlasting - Miller/Tysen/Shear & Federle
Genre: Angst, Comfort, F/M, Kidnapping, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-02-16
Packaged: 2018-09-24 20:37:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9785114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoelEvangilineCarson/pseuds/NoelEvangilineCarson
Summary: When Mae goes missing, Angus searches unsusccessfully to find her. After about a week, a package appears on the lawn bearing a sinister message: Mae inside. This is the story of the block and all that followed.





	

He'd thought about writing his sons. The letter to Miles still lingered on the kitchen table. He'd only scrawled one sentence on it: your mother is missing.  
  
He couldn't worry the boys though. Mae would hate that. So, he'd kept the letter, now as one to himself. Every waking thought was of her and the crisis she must be in. She hadn't left of her own free will; she'd been taken. Her tracks had shown that, but the long skuff marks in the dust ended at the edge of the clearing, disappearing without so much as a bent blade of grass.  
  
Days had passed seamlessly, hours smearing into each other as Angus spent his time hunting for her. He'd searched the nearby cave, and crept through town night after night, hoping against hope that he'd find some indication of her. A glimpse, a strand of hair, even a fiber of clothing woud have been something, but nothing had turned up, and he was beginning to lose hope. That scared him the most. He couldn't bear to lose her, to even think about going on without her.  
  
At long last, a package was left in front of the cabin. A paper label resided in the top right corner like a postage stamp. Written on it were three letters that set his heart racing: Mae. The thrum of blood silenced the world around him, and, as he drew nearer, another word became visible: Inside. Furiously, he tore the paper away from the package to reveal an enormous concrete block.  
  
He didn't remember turning away, running for the door, tossing the house in search of hammer and chisel; he didn't recall rushing back out, nearly falling on the stairs.  
  
Upon returning to the block, Angus immediately set to work on the block. Clanging and chinking filled the air as he worked on creating a weak point around it. As small chunks of concrete began to crumble away at a rapidly accelerating pace, Angus' fear being honed into fine attention to the task at hand.  
  
Sweat beaded upon his brow, taking on the appearance of blood in the setting sun. Bats fluttered sporadically, a bit early for nightfall, but still profiting from their premature flight. Birds disappeared behind the horizon, no doubt returning to their own roosts.  
  
Angus saw only grey, heard only the rush of blood in his ears, felt only the vibrations shattering through his arms. Any suggestion of exhaustion was long forgotten, unfathomable at such a time as this.  
  
Cracks suddenly spidered across the block, branching out from the rift had been carving. A few more swift strikes and the stone was separating.  
  
Finally, it split, to Angus' mild relief. Carefully, he pushed the now separate blocks apart. There, he found Mae, embedded in the right hand block, her body frozen by stone. Her cheek, however, twitched, alerting him to her consciousness.  
  
Abandoning the tools momentarily, he reached out his palm to cup her jaw.  
  
"You're going to be alright, Mae," he said when she flinched. "I'm here. I've got you. It'll just be a little bit longer. I promise."  
  
Again, with chisel in hand, he went to work, this time cutting away the stone much nearer to her, doing his best not to strike her. Though he knew it would cause her no physical pain, they'd all been brought to tears by that sort of thing before.  
  
Angus worked gently around her face, freeing her mouth and nose first so she could breathe. Next, he carved a dome around her eyes, careful with her eyelashes. With her head mostly free, she pleaded with him.   
  
"Angus, please, just get me out. I don't care what you have to do; I just want out!"  
  
Tears dripped from her eyes, leaving bright streaks in the dust on her cheeks.  
  
He gave over to reckless abandon then, shattering the cement, and inadvertently tearing her clothes, for they were not protected by the spring.  
  
When at last she tumbled free of her horrific prison, she latched onto her husband, sobbing into his chest.  
  
Little crumbles of stone clung to her hair. Powdered in cement dust with her torn clothes dangling from her body, Mae looked for all the world like a ghost. Angus guessed that's really what they were, completely unable to live a full life, chained to the shadows. Their family had long faced a tragic sentence, but as he held Mae, he began to realize that at least they didn't have to go through it alone.

**Author's Note:**

> My writing always suffers when I write fanfiction. Please forgive any abruptness or odd phrasing; I'm just trying to add Mae/Angus content. Also, feel free to leave reviews! I enjoy them a lot. Thanks!  
> -Noel


End file.
